It's tradition at every Lietuviu Šokiu Švente
at the Friday and Saturday practices before the big show for each group to wear a uniform practice outfit.
At recent sventes, groups began to design their own custom T-shirts. This serves many purposes.
It's fun to have a unique identity; or to present a humorous designs relative to the city you're visiting;
during the practice session it's easier to spot your group members who have wandered away in the sea of
humanity on the dance floor; and after the final practice is over, it's fun to trade shirts with dancers from
other cities. Sometimes people bring extra shirts just to trade.

For the Toronto Festival in 2000, the Malūnas Dance Group came up with a great idea. Inspired by the Grateful
Dead shirts of the 1992 and 1996 Lithuanian Olympic Basketball teams, Malūnas enlisted the help of their own
resident artist Michelle Dulys to come up with a spoof of the Grateful Dead basketball shirts using skeletons
in dance costumes on a tie-dyed shirt. Working with a Dutch artist (name Michelle?), they came up with
inspired artwork. The shirts were a huge hit. All extra's were either traded or sold in less than an hour. There
are many rip offs floating out there, but if you can get an original on eBay, it's a find!

Malūnas Dancers at the XIV Sokiu Svente in Boston. Click on the picture to see photos from that Festival.

Malūnas was founded in Baltimore, MD in 1968.
History

Previously, Lithuanian Folk dancing had
been present in Baltimore since the second wave of Lithuanians began arriving as refugees and Displaced Persons (DP's)
after World War 2. Usually performances were arranged with high school and college age students performing in
various local venues, the most notable one being the Gwynn Oaks Amusement Park's annual summer International
Festival. In 1966 the Lithuanian Dancers won the Best in Show trophy at that festival and gained notiriety for
their dancing acumen. In 1967 the Lithuanian Community decided
to form a permanent folk dance group named Kalvelis (the Blacksmith) based at the Lithuanian Hall in the Little Lithuania
community.
Over 40 dancers arrived for the first practice, and the dancers were split in half by age/size, forming a
student group and a children's group.
More...

Malūnas Dancers at the XIII Sokiu Svente in Los Angeles. Click on the picture to see photos from that Festival.

Our last performance was at the Lithuanian Independance Day Remembrance
Sunday March 11th, 2013

Our next performance will be at the Baltimore Lithuanian Festival
in Catonsville, MD. Saturday & Sunday May 11th-12th, 2013

If you are interested in joining Malūnas, the practices are held Sunday afternoons from 11:00
to 1:00 or Friday nights from 7:30 to 9:30 (depending on availability) at the Lithuanian Hall
at 851 Hollins St. Call the instructor Rytis Grybauskas at 410-795-0553 for more information, or send email to
rytis@comcast.net
before coming to verify practice dates and times.